Early Galveston Aviators Collection

This collection consists of 3 postcards related to John Hector Worden and Paul Studenski, two pilots who worked as instructors at the National Aeroplane Company's flight school in the Denver Resurvey area of Galveston. The postcards portray the pilots in their airplanes, taking off, and landing in the airfield and on the beach. Two postcards also contain messages from John Hector Worden to his friend Dr. E.C. Linton of New York City; one postcard portrays Worden during flight school in France, the other shows him landing on the beach at Galveston.

In January 1912, the National Aeroplane Company of Chicago, Illinois established a winter flight school on Galveston Island, situating their airfield in the Denver Resurvey area. Two instructors for this school were John Hector Worden (born February 4, 1885 in New York, USA) and Paul Studenski (also spelled Studensky, born November 13, 1887 in St. Petersburg, Russia). Both Worden and Studenski had received their pilot's licenses from French flight schools in 1911. In addition to his work with the flight school, Studenski also tested new aircraft for the National Aeroplane Company and made the first air mail deliveries from Galveston Island to the mainland. The Galveston flight school closed by 1913. Worden continued flying, including service as a pilot with the Mexican military, and died in an aviation accident in Dallas on May 6, 1916. Studenski, on his wife's request, gave up flying in late 1913 and instead turned to the study of economics, becoming a professor of economics at New York University from 1927-1955; he also wrote several books on economics and engaged in consulting work for public institutions. Studenski died on November 2, 1961.